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Mary:
- Ken, do you remember we did some research in 1995 on how husband and wife shared housework and parenting?
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Ken:
- Sure. The survey we did at Fukuoka City, right? http://www.eqg.org/lecture/kaji/kaji1995
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Mary:
- I am glad to say that the report were well-received everywhere.
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Ken:
- Everywhere?
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Mary:
- Never mind the details. Anyway, it has been eight years since the survey, and I am wandering people might be thinking and acting differently now. So, here we are: a new survey in 2003 at Koganei City, Tokyo.
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Ken:
- Last time, Mary, you showed me a JETRO's table of work hours in a number of countries (Table 2).
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Mary:
- I picked up this time "National Time Use Survey 2000 Report"(Table 1) that NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) conducted in every five years. In fact, the JETRO's table picked up Japanese data from NHK's previous survey.
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Ken:
- In every five years...then, the JETRO's table must have been based on 1990 data. O.K., let's take a look if there is any differences in 10 years.
(Table 1) Work Hours per Week : Year 2000
| | Occupational work | Domestic work | Total (hours/week) |
| Male with occupation |
52.7 |
4.1 |
56.8 |
| Female with occupation |
37.3 |
24.2 |
61.5 |
"National Time Use Survey 2000 Report" NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, 2000.
Female includes both full-time and part-time workers
(Table 2) Work Hours per Week : Year 1990
| | Occupational work | Domestic work | Total (hours/week) |
| Male | Japan |
57.7 |
4.0 |
61.7 |
| USA | 47.5 | 14.1 | 61.6 |
| France | 44.9 | 16.5 | 61.4 |
| UK | 43.4 | 13.0 | 56.4 |
| Female | Japan |
47.7 |
26.7 |
74.4 |
| USA | 36.3 | 25.8 | 62.1 |
| France | 40.1 | 27.7 | 67.8 |
| UK | 40.1 | 18.9 | 59.0 |
"Female Work Environment and Its Economic Effects in Major European Countries" JETRO, 1993
Female includes part-time workers only
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Ken:
- Wow! We are now spending much less time on occupational work!
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Mary:
- We cannot say it for sure on women, because the 1990 survey excluded part-time jobs. You are certainly right on men: men have clearly cut down on their work hours.
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Ken:
- Here! Men are now doing more domestic work!
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Mary:
- Ken...Only 0.1 hours more, or six minutes a week. I would not say we were going to find in the new survey a substantial improvement on homemaking partnership.
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Ken:
- Well...decrease in women's housework hours should mean something.
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Mary:
- It in fact means we now have a lot more efficient housework gadgets and we are now outsourcing a lot more housework.
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Ken:
- Hey, don't you notice that now husbands everywhere are pushing a stroller? We are having more and more of parenting outfits for men, too.
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Mary:
- Good point. So, I am wondering if we are going to find any effects of the change or not.
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Ken:
- One result we got in the last survey was that men wouldn't do housework even at shorter work hours, though a lot of us believed the myth that long work hours were the major obstacle preventing men from doing housework and parenting. Another one was a kind of straightforward: the more a wife brought money in, the more her husband did housework. I wonder what we are gonna get this time.
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Mary:
- There also was: changing "consciousness" of husbands would not lead to greater partnership in homemaking and parenting. I had the feeling that husbands shared joint homemaking and parenting duties if it was absolutely necessary to keep the "current good life."
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Ken:
- Mary, it just came to my mind, but didn't you say "sharing" in the last survey instead of "partnership?"
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Mary:
- Yeah, I changed the wording.
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Ken:
- How come?
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Mary:
- The word "sharing" includes the meaning that you take responsibility over your part only, especially when combined with "housework," but I have recently convinced that is not the way it should be in "homemaking" and parenting. Each action may be done either by a husband or wife, but it must be in fact a joint effort. On parenting, in particular, you cannot say "I don't care what happens to your part." With two adults in a household, both must be held 100% responsible to everything as in "partnership". So, I picked up the word to be more specific in terms of responsibility.
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Ken:
- Then why did you use "sharing" in the questionnaire?
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Mary:
- I did not want to, but professionals advised me not to use the newly formed word, "homemaking partnership." They said I ought to use the most common words in questionnaire.
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Ken:
- I see. Are we gonna have a round-table talk of husbands again?
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Mary:
- You bet! We need to let them talk what they really think to have a real perception. In addition, you will see all statements people wrote on homemaking and parenting partnership.
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Ken:
- Okey-dokey. Let's take a look of what we got this time.
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